Today’s Civil Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
In France, isolated cases of witch-hunting had occurred as early as 1245, and the burning of Angèla de la Barthe by the inquisitor at Toulouse in 1275 has been claimed as the first execution specifically for witchcraft. France could also claim the first secular trial, when Jehenne de Brigue was arraigned in Paris in October 1390.
Her trial dragged on for nearly a year, having been adjourned when it was thought that she was pregnant, and it was not until August 1391 that she was put to torture by being stripped naked and bound to a ladder. She immediately confessed that she had attempted to poison Jehan de Ruilly, her accuser, in collaboration with his wife Macette. After being racked, Macette agreed that the charge was true. Two weeks of legal argument followed before the Paris parlement decided that this was a civil matter, and that the two women could be burned alive as sorcerers. The sentence was carried out on August 19, 1391.
Culled from: The History of Torture
Corpse Du Jour!
Unidentified corpse, New York City crime photo, circa 1915.
Culled from: Shots in the Dark